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Dear
CNET members:
In case you haven't noticed, the new look and feel of CNET is alive and kicking! With these fresh and exciting changes and the addition of all-new Community features to our site--such as Insider Secrets, Weekend Project, Ask the Editors, Tech Nightmares, and the home-theater showcase we call Show Us Yours--it's time for us to revamp this newsletter also. But, of course, not before I get the chance to hear from you as to what you would like to see more or less of, because ultimately, this newsletter is for you. So please join me in this discussion and let me know what's on your mind.
And for those of you who e-mailed me about the changes to our site, a huge sincere thank-you. Not only did that mail make my day, I passed it along to the entire team at CNET, who have been feverishly working hard to dream big and bring you the best of what CNET has to offer.
Now let's move ahead and tackle Rahul's mysterious disappearing and reappearing CD-ROM drives. As with any hardware issue, it is difficult to troubleshoot, so I hope that this week's winning answer by Robert and the honorable mention will point you in the right direction. Good luck. Thanks for all your great submissions, everyone!
 For some time now, there has been a problem with my CD-ROM drives (CD-ROM and CD-RW drives). Sometimes the drives are recognized by Windows, and sometimes they are not. When they are not recognized, I can't open or use the CD drives, and the drives are not listed in My Computer. I even opened up the PC to make sure the drives were properly connected to the motherboard by removing and attaching the cables again. But even this did not solve the problem. Would someone know what the problem could be? I would really appreciate your help.
--Submitted by: Rahul M. of Auckland, New Zealand
The clue here is "intermittent." Your BIOS is not able to detect or maintain the detection for which ROM is the master, and which is the slave.
If either ROM cannot be detected or its detection cannot be maintained, detection for both ROMs will suffer from it and Windows will not see either one.
A primary and little-known cause of this problem is that one of the jumpers on the back of either ROM is becoming loose or is tarnished, creating an intermittent "nonconnection." Quick fix? Replace both ROMs' jumpers with fresh ones. Jumpers should offer some resistance when they're installed, indicating they're making a connection. Assuming that the ROMs suddenly developed a nondetection issue, here's the troubleshooting order... Read more
--Submitted by Robert B.
(Please click the following for the honorable mentions and the "It happened to me; here's what I did"section)
For Robert's efforts, we’re sending him his choice of any Help.com
Learning CD.
Check out next week's question:
The clock on my computer (running Windows 98 SE) keeps losing time--as much as one hour in three days. My computer is always on, so what could be the cause of the time loss, and how can I fix it?
--Submitted by: Patrick R. of Murrieta, California
We feature a new question every Friday. If you have the answer,
e-mail us at messageboards@cnet.com.
If we choose your response, you'll get a free Help.com CD. Click
here for Q&A submission guidelines and check out our previous Q&As here.
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